* RealitySubtext: Michael Dorsey ''is'' Creator/DustinHoffman. All the insane ways Dorsey gets fired or quits from a production? They ''really'' happened.* ThrowItIn: Most of Bill Murray's dialogue was improvised.* TroubledProduction: The film was often referred to this way while it was being made. There were script problems aplenty, even during shooting, until Creator/ElaineMay fixed them (and came up with Bill Murray's part). [[Creator/DustinHoffman Hoffman]] and director Creator/SydneyPollack feuded so intensely over small things that Hoffman ended up suggesting that Pollack play his agent so they could get that into the film (and, perhaps, give Pollack a chance to vent). It became one of the rare instances where the drama behind the drama resulted in a better film.